Metal leaf package



Jan. 16, 1934.. w. o. SNELLING METAL LEAF PACKAGE Original Filed Jan. 20, 1926 O/OGQUQG4 Patented Jan. 16, 1934 UNITE@ STATES METAL LEAF PACKAGE Walter O. Snelling, Allentown, la.

Original application January 2i), 1926, Serial No. 82,563. Divided and this application February 13, 1929. Serial No.

7 Claims.

This invention relates to the packaging of metallic leaf and has for its principal object the provision of an improved package of metallic leaf, usually gold.

A second object of the invention is the provision of means for reducing to a minimum the quantity of precious metal ordinarily lost by eX- cessive overlapping, Wind currents and crinkling.

This application is a division of my application filed January 26, 1926, now Patent Number 1,728,635, dated Sept. 17, 1929.

The common practice at the present time is to package the extremely thin metal in so-called books, the gold leaf, bronze leaf, silver leaf, aluminum leaf, or whatever thin metal is used being interleaved between sheets of tissue paper which ordinarily are exactly the same size as the metal. In using the metallic leaf which I will hereafter refer to as gold, altho obviously I 0 use all metals that can be attenuated, the operator whether lettering a pane of glass or a book,

or an ornamental figure or what not, opens the book so as to expose a sheet of the gold leaf, and v if the operator is extremely skillful he can with a 2b flip and skillful blowing lift the gold from the book and blow it to the desired point.

A much more common method and one which does not require anything like the skill required in lowing but which does lead to much greater 0 wastage, is to use a high grade of soft camels hair brush and to draw this quickly across the cheek and then apply the side of the brush to the exposed sheet of gold which will stick to the brush and can be transferred by the brush to the desired point to be gilded.

The extreme thinness of the sheets of gold makes it quite difcult to handle the leaf by either of the methods described and loss of gold is very considerable, and since no operator can accurately place the gold leaf, it is the custom to overlap the sheets of gold on the surface to a very large extent to insure against having to fill in little cracks; in other words the labor cost is so much greater than the gold cost that it is cheaper to overlap excessively than to have to apply extra small pieces Where the gold would not quite hit if it were attempted to economize by making a very slight overlap.

It has been proposed heretofore to package metallic leaf in rolls in which the rolls were perforat ed but in every case the gold has been packaged on the inside of the roll or more correctly the gold and support are wound spirally but the support is always on the outside of the roll. The purpose of the holes has always been for one of two reasons, one to cause suction to the back of the roll to prevent adhesion of the metal leaf to the outside surface of the next inner layer of backing or, second, to produce the proper ad- 60Vhesion of the gold to the paper so that the gold (Cl. 20G-71) and paper could together be torn into thin strips. I know of nc other reason for providing a perforated back for metallic leaf.

While I perforate my backing I do it for a totally different purpose and I also have a very much greater area of holes. In all former packings the area of the holes was less than a twentieth of the area of the backing Whereas in accordance with the present invention the area of the holes preferably varies from about one-tenth of the total area of the sheet to as much as onehalf oreven more, of the total area of the sheet, a convenient ratio being l to 5, that is, the holes take up one-fifth of the total area. This ratio had when the holes are as far apart as their diameters and not staggered. In one of the iigures I have shown a modified backing which I und very convenient. In this backing the holes, in vertical and horizontal rows, are as far apart as their diameters but the holes are staggered and hence the area of the holes is two-fths of the total area of the perforated portion. By very slightly increasing the diameter of the holes while keeping their centers in the same positions the area of backing unperforated is exactly equal to the area of the holes.

In the drawing:-

Figure 1 is a View of a corner of a single sheet 0f metallic leaf supported upon a backing.

Figure 2 is a modification in which the total area of the holes is double that shown in Figure l.

Figure 3 is an elevation of a package roll of metallic leaf, this being the preferred form of my invention.

Figure 4 is an elevation of a holder for the rolls while applying the metal in accordance with the method herein described.

Figure 5 is a plan of the holder shown in Figure 4.

In Figure l the backing is 10, here a flat sheet with an unperforated border 11 but having throughout the center of the sheet a nrunber of perforations 12 here shown as being as far apart both vertically and horizontally as their diameters so that the area covered by the metallic leaf 15 is about five times as great as the area of the holes beneath it. I can decrease the area of the holes and still have the invention satisfactory but it is better to have the holes not less than one-fifth of the total area covered by the gold leaf. that the holes are shown as lstaggered and since there are now twice as many holes in a given area the ratio of holes to total area is as pi is to eight or roughly as 2:5; or expressed still diiferently, the holes cover four-tenths of the total area. In using the modification shown in Figure 2 the hole area is so great that a very gentle stream of air directed against the back of the support In Figure 2 the only modification is 10 will insure the transfer of the leaf from the backing to the proximate surface to be metalized without loss.

In Figure 3 the package is in its most convenlent form, a roll, denoted as a whole by the numeral 16, in which roll the continuous strip 17 of metal is on the outside of the roll, the perforated strip 18 being wound on the inside of the roll in contradistinction to all package rolls of leaf with which I am familiar. The obvious reason for this difference lies in the totally different method of application; in all other packages the leaf is lifted from the package and transferred to the surface by some tangible means whereas in accordance with my invention the transfer is thru an extremely small distance and the transferring means consists of air or gas only. The supportingr sheet 18 has perforations in accordance with Figure l or Figure 2 or in any other desired manner just so that the total area of the holes is sufficiently great in proportion to the total area of the leaf as to insure the air being able to blow it oif without loss.

In Figure 4 I have shown a frame suitable for holding the rolls of Figure 3. In this device the frame as a Whole is denoted 20 and at each end there is a removable shaft, one of which, 2l, has a knurled head 22 while the other shaft 23 is preferably plain. At each corner of the frame 20 I have a small leg 25 intended to rest against the surface to be gilded, here shown as a sheet of glass 27. The lugs 28 each have at their free ends a small roller 29 so that the metallic leaf and backing may be guided from the roll 16 into close proximity and into parallelism with the surface 27, provided the surface is plane.

The small gripping elements 39 detachably receive a pyramidal funnel 3l to the apex of which is secured a rubber tube 32 having a soft portion 33 so that the operator can place the portion 33 in his mouth and when he winds the strip of gold leaf into the exact position desired he can blow gently thru the tube S2 and transfer the metal 17 to the surface 27 which naturally has already been prepared in the proper way as by varnishing it so that the gold or other metal will adhere in the usual manner. The tube 32 may convey a gas in which case there should be a valve in the tube which obviously would not be needed if the gas to be supplied were merely air from the operators lungs. Where the letters are quite small and the width of the foil roll is relatively great the funnel may be detached and the tube 32-33 used without being fast to the frame (the funnel being omitted) and in 'this way a very close economy of gold may be secured, the adhesion of the gold to the backing being suiliciently great to enable it to be drawn from the surface where it has not been blown against the surface. In the ordinary use of the device however, I make the width of the roll the same as the standard for the present day box and I turn the knurled wheel 22 suiiicient to expose as much of the gold as I Wish to use in which case the roller 29 acts as the severing margin.

While I have shown the perforations as being circular and of uniform size they naturally may may be made of varying sizes, for example, the perforations in the center of the sheet or srip might well be smaller than the perforations at the edge, or the holes may all be so arranged that the amount of air passing thru the perforations will bear a desired relationship to the preferred movement of the metal foil, but I do not claim the specific arrangement of holes per se except as stated in the claims nor do I make any special claim as to the kind of foil for While gold, substantially pure, is the metal usually handled there are times when it is very convenient to use other metals as for example, during the War when bronze leaf was used to a considerable extent because the government had requisitioned that metal to such an extent as to bar the use of solid bronze in ornaments.

What I claim is2- l. A package roll of metallic leaf comprising a continuous perforated supporting strip and metallic leaf on the outside of the strip so that as the package is unrolled on a surface the leaf Will be next to the surface, and the user can blow gently thru the perforations to transfer the leaf from the strip to said surface.

2. A rotatable roll of metallic leaf comprising a continuous perforated supporting strip and a continuous strip of metallic leaf on the outside of the supporting s'rip, whereby the roll may be unrolled against a surface to be lettered with the leaf parallel to the surface and the user can blow gently thru the perforated strip lo transfer the leaf from the strip to the surface.

El. A roll of metallic leaf comprising a continuous perforated supporting strip and a strip of metallic leaf on ihe outside of the supporting strip, the total area of the perforations in the supporting strip being greater than onetenth of the area of the perfora ed portion.

i. .A sheet of gold leaf coniprising a backing having a central perforated portion and an imperforate border all around, a leaf of gold on the perforate portion and not extending to said border, the area of the holes bearing such relation lo the total area of the perforated portion as to permit the transfer of the gold from the sheet, while held by the border, by blowing thru the holes against the gold.

5. A package roll of gold leaf consisting of a continuous supporting s rip having holes therein of an area greater than one-tenth of the area of the strip, metallic gold on the strip in such fashion that the strip may be held closely parallel io the surface to be gilded with the unused goldcontaining portion of the roll away from the surface but tangent thereto.

5. A package roll of gold leaf comprising a spirally wound strip of backing material in which holes of uniform size spacing occupy at least one-fifth of the to al area of the backing strip, a continuous strip of gold leaf on the outside of the backing strip so that when the roll is unrolled against a plane surface to be gilded the gold leaf is against ihe surface and the roll is constantly tangent to said surface.

7. A sheet of extremely thin metallic leaf cornprising a backing having a perforated portion and at least one imperforate border, a leaf of extremely thin metal on the perforate portion, the area of the holes bearing such relation to the total area of the perforated portion as to permit the transfer of the metal from the sheet by blowing thru the holes against the metal while holding the sheet by the border.

WALTER O. SNELLING. 

